State guarantees Kane County funds?

In a true reversal of fortune, Kane County Health Department officials announced Tuesday they've inked contracts with the state to guarantee payment for social services the county board voted to transfer to the private sector last month. The vote stemmed, in part, from the belief that the state's inability to pay its bills on time would only worsen.

Meanwhile, the state has not yet finalized contracts with the private health care providers that will take over the caseload of some 6,000 people who receive access to Medicaid through the county.

The new state contracts with the county provide payment retroactive to July 1 and going forward until Nov. 8. That's the date all the county's social services in the health department should be fully transferred over to the private sector. It's also the date 62 health department employees will lose their jobs.

Health department Executive Director Paul Kuehnert said the transition of services is still on track even though the state hasn't reached agreements with the private health care providers.

"It's just a matter of the state system being quite cumbersome," Kuehnert said. "They do have a very lengthy administrative process where they go through contract reviews. But they've assured me that those contracts are on track and will be in place. The bottom line for our clients is they will be receiving services from these community agencies in places and with people that are very familiar to them."

Kuehnert said the county has also taken extra steps to ensure pregnant mothers who do not have insurance and qualify for Medicaid are identified as early as possible during the transition of services. Kuehnert set up a new system with all five of the county's hospitals to implement an automatic Medicaid eligibility screening process for uninsured pregnant moms.

The county will also work with the hospitals, local clinics and private doctors to collect data to track the transition for any patients falling through the cracks.

One hiccup in the transition already will be a temporary takeover of services for foster children by the state's Department of Children and Family Services for about one month.

Up until recently, the state's Department of Human Services oversaw those children. State officials have decided it doesn't make sense to sign a one-month contract with the county while it works through the details of moving services for foster children to Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center. Kuehnert said foster children and their foster parents should not lose services at any point in the transfer among the three entities.

The finalization of which employees lose their jobs will come before all the juggling among agencies is complete. A 30-day layoff notice will go out Oct. 7. The county board will take a closer look at the health department's reorganization before signing off on any final plan.

Health: 62 people will find out Oct. 7 they're being laid off